Five for Friday: Wemby's walk-off, pet plays, and arena shenanigans
Plus, Popovich is on a heater with his message-sending ways, and Devin Vassell jumps a bit of a hurdle.
Introducing Five for Friday, the newest weekly staple at Corporate Knowledge. Whereas the other weekly, Sunday’s El Conclusión, will focus on individual player performances from the week that was, FFF will look back at the more macro storylines and developments. As the name suggests, it’ll be in your inbox every Friday, and each installment could go in any number of different directions. Hope you enjoy!
When you’re staring up from the basement of the Western Conference, every win feels magnitudes larger than perhaps it is on paper. Whether it’s the “fuck yeah” yells coming from disembodied voices in the rowdy locker room around the corner from the post-game interview room, or the smiles on the faces of players at the podium, it’s obvious these types of games still matter to a 12-48 team whose playoff hopes died months ago.
“We haven’t won that much, so when they come around we’re definitely excited,” Devin Vassell said after the Spurs beat the now formerly top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder.
That much was evident when Victor Wembanyama grabbed the microphone from arena host Zay Zay Aquino, just moments after popping the front of his jersey toward a gassed up Frost Bank Center crowd. Whatever filter the young Frenchman had installed for live television and family friendly environments had been removed.
“I missed this shit,” he said in front of screaming fans hanging on his every word. “I love it. I missed it. Enjoying the game, and winning after the Rodeo Road Trip with more than 16,000 people that I love — best feeling.”
And there’s reason for San Antonio to value this win a bit more than others they’ve experienced this season. Some might argue it’s too early to call Spurs-Thunder a rivalry considering the two teams’ places in the standings, but it’s at least one that’s budding.
Two organizations with uniquely similar philosophies (remember that former Spurs executive Sam Presti runs the Thunder show), two of the youngest teams in the league, two of the most promising, talented, skilled young big men in the league in Wemby and Chet Holmgren (who don’t seem to be pals), and not for nothing, two sides with a history of postseason drama — the entire setup is there.
Oklahoma City throttled San Antonio in their first two matchups this season by applying intense pressure, forcing turnovers and keeping the inexperienced Spurs on their heels in transition defense all night. This time around, Gregg Popovich’s group took care of the ball (only 11 turnovers) and got the extra shots they were losing during the final two games of the road trip when they coughed the ball up 42 times combined against the Jazz and Timberwolves. And wadda ya know, they converted 52.7 percent of those looks, including 19 of their 39 attempts from behind the 3-point line on Thursday.
The percentages aren’t always going to look like that for a team that lacks perimeter marksmen. But the moral of the story is: Good things CAN happen when you truly value possession of the basketball.
Now, on to the five things…
Wembanyama’s incredible fourth-quarter sequences
San Antonio’s All-Universe rookie seems to set a new historical precedent on a regular basis. On Thursday, Wemby became the first player in NBA history to record at least 25 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, five blocks and five 3-pointers made in a single game. But the craziest part about stat lines like these (at least in my mind)? They’re not even that crazy.
Have you seen this guy? Of course he’s blocking everything. Of course he’s rebounding everything. With all the attention he gets on the court, of course he’s racking up assists. He’s got great shooting mechanics and nobody can get to his shot, so of course he’s hitting 3s. It’s wild we’re only 60 games into his rookie year and I’m already taking this stuff for granted. Either that or I’m hopelessly jaded.
But I am not taking for granted the obscene impact he already makes on individual games. These types of sequences alter tides:
And it isn’t just the fact he’s making plays like these that drastically affect outcomes, it’s the effect said plays have on opponents. Wembanyama said earlier this season, “Traumatizing, sometimes, is the goal,” and just look at the Oklahoma City’s body language as timeout is called and players just stare back at Victor as if nothing is making sense in their minds.
The wellspring of clips Wembanyama produces is already breaking records, and this is only the beginning of his journey. Hey, here’s one more — the block on Holmgren that basically ended the evening.
Spurs starting to utilize some pet plays
San Antonio is not a team that operates out of a lot of sets offensively. With such a young team, the focus has been on basketball education and teaching a bunch of young 20-somethings how to play off the guy next to them rather than putting them in positions to execute perfectly against half-court defenses. Read, react and go.
The Spurs of old knew one another perhaps better than their own families knew them (I’m only half-joking), and they understood where to go with the ball with every move, counter and scheme they faced. So introducing more complex concepts was no big deal. These kids are obviously still learning and growing together, but as the season has moved along, more packages have been installed within the infrastructure.
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